Week 6 Blog Assignment

J. Lynch

February 16th, 2013.

 

                                                                            My Supports

My school environment is intangible, yet its effects on learning, productive work, and self-concept is even more powerful than those exerted by the classroom's physical environment. However, good human relations enable leadership and staff to interact productively and get along well, both of which are essential to a democratic environment that promotes school learning (Angell, 1991). Also, internal factors such as work structure, and the quality of workers also have a significant impact on the school programmes and activities, as well as on the behaviour of members in the organization (James-Reid, 2003).

As the teacher in charge of the elementary school (Kindergarten to Grade Two), the interaction with the environmental factors such as teachers, students, parents, and the physical facilities help to shape behaviour in structuring the institution for work. Closer collaboration between staff and leadership is encouraged, where the internal structure specifies how tasks and responsibilities are divided among teachers. The formal internal structures are expressed as divisions, departments, committees, and grades, as well as in terms of roles such as those of the management team, deputy principal, graduate teacher, senior teacher, literacy and numeracy coordinators, and grade heads. At least, every teacher has an area of responsibility, and feels his or her role is very important in the organization.

As a result of distributing duties to staff members, my work-load as teacher in charge is lessened, since teachers have been empowered, they are proactive, efficient, and effective in the organization. For example, the deputy principal was given the direct responsibility for the academic staff, and has to coordinate the work of the grade coordinators and ancillary staff. The grade coordinators oversee the teachers in his or her section, by looking at lesson plans and scheme of work, listen to and monitor teaching activities, then report to the principal or deputy principal.

All teachers are part of a social network of mutual assistance and obligations. They are concerned about the social support and committed to improving the social environment in the work-place, because it is socially supportive, hence the reason why the teachers come to work frequently. Owing to their attitude and actions, absenteeism has lowered, and job satisfaction ratings are higher. As a result, teachers' ability to form supportive relationships at work is one of the strongest characteristics of highly productive work-place (Gummer, 2001). What is most fascinated is having such a committed work-force that causes the work flow to be uninterrupted.

Additionally, this supportive environment from staff members contributes to my physical health, and thereby less likely to experience a heart attack, high blood pressure, or even able to cope with problems that might otherwise lead to psychological distress. Nonetheless, the cooperation of teachers has broadened influence on students' learning and growth, including major aspects of their social, emotional, and ethical development. Positive attitudes towards themselves are developed, as well as prosocial attitudes, and behaviours toward staff and peers. However, if these support structures (teachers) were not in place to assist in fostering an academically focused school-wide environment, children would have lax discipline, thus becoming apparent over time, and misbehaviour would have increased. Likewise, if these supporting structures were not present, I would have felt like a failure to society, by not being able to respond appropriately in the interest of my workplace.

Admittedly, the challenge chose to imagine, and the thoughts regarding to supports that is wanted and needed, has to do with the physical structure of the school. Obviously, it has an impact on the behaviour of the people in it (staff and students) because the design and layout of the building hinder the administrator who seeks to monitor activities. For example, the set of parallel buildings pose a problem for monitoring.

Undoubtedly, there are lots of factors in my daily environment that are supportive to me. Most of all are my staff members, students, and parents. I am able to share my work load among staff members, hence, having a more committed, productive workforce. Students' achievement are great, since discipline is  maintained in the school, thus creating an effective learning environment, and the school will be branded as an institute of high expectations for both academic achievement and behaviour. However, when the physical learning environment offers possibilities that support monitoring, the school will be more prompt to change its operational culture.

 

References

 

http://taylorlab.psych.ucla.edu/2008_Fostering0/020a0/020Support

James-Reid, O. (2003). ED 33F classroom management. Bridgetown, Barbados: University of the West Indies.

My Connection to Play: Week 4

Week 4 Blog Assignment

EDUC-61612

February 2nd, 2013

My Connections to Play

 

Quotes that Summarize what play represented for me in childhood.

Play as Preparation

Play is a subconscious activity that helps an individual develop both mentally and socially. It should be separated from work, as play helps a child to grow into a working world. As children become adults, they no longer "play," but seek amusement from their occupation. This childhood activity of play prepares them to become healthy working adults (John Dewey).

 

Play as Intellectual Development

Intellectual growth occurs as children go through the stages of assimilation, or manipulating the outside world to meet one's own needs - play acting - and accomodation, or re-adjusting one's own views to meet the needs of the outside environment, or work (Jean Piaget).

 

 Play as Social Development

Children will use play as a means to grow socially. In play, they encounter others and learn to interact using language and role play (Freud)

 

Play as Rehearsal

One of the main functions of child's play was to rehearse actions to various real-life scenarios in a safe, risk-free environment so that when confronted with a difficult situation, it would not be so stressful (Bruner, 1972).

 

Three Essential Play Items for Your Younger Self

 

How People Supported Play When I was Younger and/or the Role of Play in My Childhood

Long ago, although there were a lot of chores to be done, children in the community had the privilege to play outdoors, which helped to improve their well-being in the neighbourhood, exploration, adventure, and play. The older folks supported the children by using their imaginations to build toys and games for them, out of the available resources that were seen laid waste in and around the surroundings. Some of these include pieces of board and wood, cornhusks, scraps from fabric, and many more. We did not play for a reward, but for the fun of it. Through playing with each other in the community, we have created our social group and long lasting friendships onto adulthood because of the supportive environment we grew up in. Undoubtedly, play provides opportunities for children to learn as they discover, create, improvise, and imagine, for when they play with others, they test out ideas, challenge each other's thinking, and build new understandings.

 

Similarities and differences from play I was engaged in as a child, to play today, and hope for the young with regards to play.

Growing up as a child, both boys and girls had special games they played. There were no factories for making toys, neither any toy stores. Toys had to be made by adults or children themselves, by using left over materials. Children were satisfied with what they had. Boys played cricket with a bat made from a dried coconut branch, and a ball made from waste plastic bags, heated in the fire, then moulded into the shape of a ball, or sometimes used a very young fruit from the breadfruit tree.  They were also fascinated with pitching marbles, riding scooter, spinning wooden tops, and rolling the hoops from the barrels. On the other hand, the girls enjoyed playing hopscotch, doll house (using rag dolls, or dolls made from corn husks), skipping, and rounder.  Both boys and girls played see saw and hide and seek. Children played all through the year because there was no special time of the year designated for sports. However, today both boys and girls play few of the same games together; for example, cricket, riding scooter, and pitching marbles, because most of the games played in the past seem to have been more or less dormant now. These days, outdoor play is not that famous in the communities, for indoor games have become the play space for many children, where indoor play technologies such as television, video, DVDs, consoles, and computer games have proliferated (Buckingham, 2000).

Child development theorists, researchers and educators have long known that play is one of children's most valuable resources, vital to their social, emotional, and cognitive growth. Through play children make sense of the world around them and work through new experiences, ideas, and feelings. In recent years, a host of social forces and trend - the influence of media, commercialism, fast-paced family life, and academic pressures in schools - have been eroding healthy play, robbing children of this valuable resource for optimal growth and learning.

The role of play throughout childhood and adulthood

Play was an integral part of my life while growing up as a young child. It was a pleasurable activity that required no end or goal, but only participation and fun.  As I played both alone and with friends (at home and school), I developed concepts of skills together as they are integrated in the context of meaningful and playful experiences. From play, I was taught how to solve problems, do things with my hands, how to follow directions and rules, learn to be fair, wait on my turn and to use my imagination. Now I became an adult, I tend to dismiss play, for I became very serious, focusing on my personal and professional life and did not regard play anymore. Consequently, I have come to the realization that play is essential for the building of active healthy bodies.

 

References

 

1. http://archives.evergreen.edu/masterstheses/Accession89-10MT

2. http://earlychildhoodfunders.org/pdf/play07.pdf

3. http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychild

4. http://www.nancycarlssonpaige.org/article10.html